Davidson County · Tennessee
Outdoor kitchens in Nashville.
The state capital's own money hides inside two satellite cities carved out of Metro Nashville with their own governments — Belle Meade and Forest Hills — while downtown and the Gulch's rooftop and terrace scene is an entirely different build type driven by the fastest population growth of any Tennessee county.
Building here
What changes in Nashville
Belle Meade and Forest Hills are separately incorporated cities inside Davidson County, each with its own building department — a project there is never reviewed by Metro Nashville Codes. Inside Metro's own jurisdiction, Nashville's accessory structure rules flatly prohibit a kitchen in a detached structure, so a build has to attach to the house or an open porch rather than a standalone pool house or cabana; anything over 700 square feet also has to clear the full zoning district setback rather than the reduced 3-foot minimum given to smaller structures.
Davidson County added more people than any other Tennessee county in 2025, and a growing share of that growth is vertical — downtown and Gulch condo towers with rooftop decks and small terraces, a build type the legacy estate lots in Belle Meade and Forest Hills never had to solve for.
Can I build a standalone outdoor kitchen structure on my property in Nashville?
Inside Metro Nashville's own jurisdiction, no — the city's accessory structure rules bar a kitchen from being built into a detached structure, so the kitchen has to attach to the house or to a covered porch. Belle Meade and Forest Hills run their own separate building departments with their own rules, so a project there starts with that city's building official, not Metro's.
Areas we cover
- Belle Meade
- Forest Hills
- Green Hills
- The Gulch
- 12South
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